Wendy’s Desk

I’ve been a fan of Malcolm Gladwell since his first book, Tipping Point,

where he showed why [I love knowing why] little things can make a big difference.

Tipping Point gave me business hope.
I appreciate hope.
I learned later that I did what everyone else did when Gladwell’s second book came out. I walked into the store, saw the stack, and with an outstretched hand walked to touch the cover.

Blink is about the two-second window of knowing that allows people to be ahead of the curve.
Blink gave me knowledge.
I like knowledge.
Last week, walking shoulders bent against frosty wind in downtown Toronto, I saw Outliers in the window of a closed bookstore.

Nothing would do, then, but to find an open bookstore! Outliers lays out the differences people who achieve great success have in common. Startlingly, they seem random, until explained.
Great hockey players are born in January.
A child born in September is unlikely to make the cut.
Big firm Wall Street laywers were born in 1934 to parents in the garment industry.
Lawyers whose fathers were lawyers weren’t attracted to the now lucrative field.
Success comes after 10,000 hours of practice.
Children whose parents don’t give them those hours are unlikely to be outliers; people whose success in astoundingly beyond normal.
Gladwell is one of my favorite non-fiction writers because of his skill as a weaver. In all three books he leads with point A, then, in chapter two introduces point B and shows how A is incorporated. In chapter three he introduces point C, then weaves in the knowledge of A and B.
Outliers gives me direction.
I value direction.

When I saw her name on the list I knew what I should do,
I just didn’t know if I could do it.

Little clue: If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be sharing this with you.
The fact that I am sharing is confirmation this is the first time I’ve ever been this brazen.
We hadn’t ever met.
She presented at the National Speakers Association in San Diego two years ago.
Two years ago, that’s a long time
and subsequently sent me a copy of her book.
Not because she knew me, just because my name was on the list of attendees. There is no way she would know me, I didn’t go up to speak with her afterward, I didn’t write her a note, I didn’t make myself known to her in any way.
So I picked up the phone, was grateful to get voicemal, and left this message:
“Hello Elizabeth, My name is Wendy Kinney, I was in your audience when you spoke for NSA in San Diego two years ago. I see that you are speaking for the NAPO conference this Friday; I’m on the program too. The Georgia Chapter of NSA meets on Saturday, and our board dinner is Friday night. I’d love to invite you to join us, both for dinner and for our Saturday meeting. You can reach me at . . .”
Jump right to the end of the story.
I have two new friends!
Two.
Because Elizabeth called back to say she would love to join the NSA board for dinner, could she bring her hostess. (Elizabeth lives in Souix Falls, South Dakota. She was staying with Leslie while in Atlanta.)
Friday morning Elizabeth and I met because we were doing back-to-back breakouts in the same room. We shared a lav mic, and tips. She showed me the hot pink table cover she uses to reinforce her brand; I showed her the ZOOM I record on.
At the break she introduced me to her Atlanta hostess Leslie, who shook my hand while saying, “My husband has heard you speak. He still has the handout on his desk, he said to tell you he refers to it frequently.”
In my after lunch keynote I shared with 100 women that I am shy and introverted. Across the table at dinner Elizabeth leaned forward to say “I’m introverted too. I’m so glad you called. How did you make yourself do that?”

And then, we made arrangements to share a room in Scottsdale.
Cost: One phone call with heart in my hands.
Reward: New friend Elizabeth,
new friend Leslie,
and I save $225 in hotel expense!

Share with me! Share with me!
When have you done the hard thing you knew you should do,
and what where your wonderful rewards?

“If happiness is always in the future, then you’ll never be happy.”

P. Zimbardo

I was raised with a lot of rules: food rules, behavior rules, dating rules . . .

One of the things I like about The Nutrition Diva is her credible way of busting the myths I thought were rules.

Check out the podcast on how much water to drink.
Interesting.

The Nutrition Diva is the newest guru on the Quick and Dirty Tips Network, one of my favorite resources for usable, on-the-go information.

I particularly like her because of her voice, (she is an operatic singer), the way she uses words to mean different things at the same time (her ending is “Eat something good for me.”), and her pacing.

And, I like the format of the podcasts on the QDNow Network because the show notes are a complete transcript (for people who would rather read than listen) and there are often extra links in the transcript–important since I’m always driving while I’m listening.

If you haven’t gotten the podcast bug yet, this might be the place to get exposed.

Enjoy ~ W!

When I saw her name on the list I knew what I should do,
I just didn’t know if I could do it.

Little clue: If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be sharing this with you.
The fact that I am sharing is confirmation this is the first time I’ve ever been this brazen.
We hadn’t ever met.
She presented at the National Speakers Association in San Diego two years ago.
Two years ago, that’s a long time
and subsequently sent me a copy of her book.
Not because she knew me, just because my name was on the list of attendees. There is no way she would know me, I didn’t go up to speak with her afterward, I didn’t write her a note, I didn’t make myself known to her in any way.
So I picked up the phone, was grateful to get voicemal, and left this message:
“Hello Elizabeth, My name is Wendy Kinney, I was in your audience when you spoke for NSA in San Diego two years ago. I see that you are speaking for the NAPO conference this Friday; I’m on the program too. The Georgia Chapter of NSA meets on Saturday, and our board dinner is Friday night. I’d love to invite you to join us, both for dinner and for our Saturday meeting. You can reach me at . . .”
Jump right to the end of the story.
I have two new friends!
Two.
Because Elizabeth called back to say she would love to join the NSA board for dinner, could she bring her hostess. (Elizabeth lives in Souix Falls, South Dakota. She was staying with Leslie while in Atlanta.)
Friday morning Elizabeth and I met because we were doing back-to-back breakouts in the same room. We shared a lav mic, and tips. She showed me the hot pink table cover she uses to reinforce her brand; I showed her the ZOOM I record on.
At the break she introduced me to her Atlanta hostess Leslie, who shook my hand while saying, “My husband has heard you speak. He still has the handout on his desk, he said to tell you he refers to it frequently.”
In my after lunch keynote I shared with 100 women that I am shy and introverted. Across the table at dinner Elizabeth leaned forward to say “I’m introverted too. I’m so glad you called. How did you make yourself do that?”

And then, we made arrangements to share a room in Scottsdale.
Cost: One phone call with heart in my hands.
Reward: New friend Elizabeth,
new friend Leslie,
and I save $225 in hotel expense!

Share with me! Share with me!
When have you done the hard thing you knew you should do,
and what where your wonderful rewards?

of the things I like most about PowerCore meetings is the 7-Minute presentations. It was the CPA’s 7-Minute presentation at the first meeting I attended that hooked me. I didn’t join for referrals; I joined because I wondered why my CPA wasn’t telling me the things this guy was sharing. That’s how I feel about the TED blog. These scientists are sharing cool info I don’t hear anywhere else.

Yesterday we flew from Atlanta to San Diego via Denver.

(Needed to get the Denver Skyline mug.
Didn’t.
If you’re going through Denver and feel like doing me a favor, give me a call.) {grin}
Just before the Denver landing the battery on my computer expired and with no time to recharge I feared boredom for the final leg of the journey.
[DA-DU.DU.DUON] {sound of George riding to the rescue}
He suggested it was a perfect opportunity to watch the TED video blog.

Jill Pullen introduced me to TED with this video of Jill Bolte Taylor, a neurologist, describing her experience having a stroke.
(At one point she gloves up and uses a real human brain, including spinal cord, as a prop. Incredible.)
Hooked, I found the link and downloaded all back copies to George’s iPod. (Mine is full of other stuff.) We hadn’t had time to watch anything since April. The flight from Denver was the perfect opportunity to experience TED again.

We listened to Paul Stamets - telling how mushrooms can save the universe
Hector Ruiz - CEO of AMD (the Intel competitor) with his big bold goal, and a touching story of his father
They Might Be Giants (These guys are silly, they start with a song whose lyrics are: “You’re older than you’ve ever been, and now you’re even older. And now you’re even older. And now you’re even older. And now you’re older still.” Approaching our birthdays we fast-forwarded to the end.)
Brian Cox - on particle excelleration
Dean Ornish- showing that our genes are not our destiny
Brian Greene - explaining string theory.

Wish my battery had given out sooner.

This is Dave Balter’s second book, (hence the Volume II) his first was Grapevine (yes, he knows).

Lee Kantor turned me on to Grapevine, where Balter shared the surprising information gleaned from his business, BzzAgent, the first word-of-mouth marketing company.

In The Word Of Mouth Manual Volume II

Dave continues sharing incredible value.

The book itself is unlike any other - remember the Volume II? that’s the least remarkable feature. The size, paper, placement of title, author’s name and photo, and the price ($45!) are all singular.
On page 71 he covers the reason why paying for word-of-mouth doesn’t work. (Same principle as Dan Airely, different logic.)
On page 77 Balter references Duncan Watts research at Columbia University, which shows that marketers should focus less on people who influence and more on how people are influenced. (That would be InfoMinute technology.)
On page 94 (there are only 119 4″ x 5″ pages!) Balter uses a rolling the dice metaphor to explain the difference between viral marketing and word-of-mouth.

I’m looking forward to having that same discussion with him about the relationship between word-of-mouth and referrals.

Until then, I’d love to discuss it with you. Which is possible because Balter is giving the book away by .pdf! (He calls this the non-waterproof version.)

Can’t wait to hear what you think ~ W!

Don’t remember where I found out about MyMorningCoffee, probably on someone else’s blog. [grin] And now I use it every day.

MyMorningCoffee is a Firefox add-on [I do remember who told me about Firefox: Jeff Paige, Member of the Buckhead Team. Thanks Jeff; best thing you've ever done for me!]

When I visit a web site I’d like to keep track of, [like - for instance - this one!] I just click the coffee cup icon in my Firefox toolbar, and select a day of the week. Each morning, when I click the MyMorningCoffee cup, up come the blogs and web sites I want to keep track of. I log in going to the gym on Joe’s Goals and close the window; read the copy on Woot and close the window; move to Sid’s blog, close the window; see how my friend Jon Schwartz is channeling Vinny Verelli, on to Sandy . . .

I do love MyMorningCoffee.

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”From Linda Alarcon’s sig file.

Attributed to Maya Angelou

For discussion, look at eduqna.com

I’m a BzzAgent
The Frogpond is a perk.
And that’s where I learned about Rohit Bhargava’s book:

*Personality not included
*Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity-
And How Great Brands Get It Back.

He inserted a little punctuation personality!
I’m liking Bhargava’s material for several reasons:

• It’s real. As he says in the forward, he’s currently working in the industry. This is not a case study from one successful client. These are principles he uses daily.
• His layout is fresh. He says most books peak in chapter six. So he ends the first section at chapter six, and included feet-on-the ground exercises and templates in the second half of the book. Then he references a tool in a chapter, (so I flip forward) ends the tool with a reference to another chapter (so I flip back) it’s taking me a pack of post-its to keep my place!

Bhargava also included ten marketing techniques:

• Curiosity Marketing
• Karmic Marketing
• Participation Marketing
• Un-Whatever Marketing
• Sensory Marketing
• Antimarketer Marketing
• Insider Marketing
• Incidental Marketing
• Useful Marketing [Members who have partipated in the GateOpener Workshop have explored this arena.]

Each technique begins with reasons to green light or red light the technique.

Un-Whatever gets a green light for businesses in a crowded marketplace; a red light if the product or service is only marginally different from competitors.

How fresh; what personality.
This work ties directly to InfoMinutes.
Great new material.
Can’t wait to share it.